Why Apple Is Having A Hard Time In The Smartphone Market?

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Putting all speculations to rest, the Karnataka government welcomed the tech giant Apple’s move to begin ‘initial manufacturing’ from Bengaluru. For five years, Apple has been a dominant player in the Indian smartphone market and kept the position for being the world's most valuable brand.

But as said nothing is constant in this world, with the New Year, a new tech giant has grabbed the top spot in the list of 100 most valuable brands by replacing Apple.

According to, Brand Finance's Global 500 2017 report, Apple’s loss has been Google’s gain. Six years after it last held the title in 2011, Google is now the world’s most valuable brand with a value of US$109 billion. Apple's brand value fell 27 percent to $107.1 billion dropping it to second place, while Google went up by 24 percent to $109.5 billion.Another report based on Q4 2016 market sales in China by IDC, the research firm states that Apple had lost its ground in China for the first time in years. The report stated that the reason for Apple's market share decline in 2016 was that many consumers were waiting for the new iPhone to be released this year.

Listed #3 points explain broadly why Apple is having a hard time in Indian market of smartphones.

More Expensive in India than Other Countries: Since the very first iPhone in India, Apple has been pricing the devices higher than other countries. The reason being the company had to pay heavy custom duty while importing their products in India. While they still give various schemes to finance the product. The tech giant Apple is not ready to negotiate with the prices in order to keep up the profit margin. As per a CNET report, in 2016, Apple products were most expensive in India.

The iPhone 7 failure: The decline of Apple in the fourth quarter highlights how the latest model iPhone 7, which went on sale on 16 September simply failed to wow the consumers. The iPhone 7 launch might have been grand, but the results show that the demand for the new model is not as good as it was for the iPhone 6.

Lack Of Innovation: Apple's rate of innovation cycle has decreased against its competitors' immense growth. It further highlights the lack of innovation on Apple's end in terms of hardware and design. When comparing visually, there’s not much difference between an iPhone 7, an iPhone 6S, and an iPhone 6.So, it’s realy difficult to make your customers anxious about a new product which doesn't look new at all in terms of design.

However, rumors suggest that the Apple will offer the iPhone 8 with OLED display and curved edges. It would be interesting to see if the next iPhone could help Apple set new sales records .

To be honest, Apple is really having a hard time in the smartphone market. But, the tech giant still has a great option of retaining the lost position with the upcoming iPhone 8 .

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